We developed a new technique for measuring cortical cerebral blood flow in the rat, and combined it with measurements of arterial/venous differences for oxygen and glucose to calculate cerebral oxygen consumption and cerebral glucose consumption. The major advantage of this new technique is that it can be used in the unanesthetized, freely-moving, animal. Most of the previous studies on the effect of alcohol on cerebral blood flow and metabolic rate have been performed on restrained or anesthetized animals, where it is difficult to separate the effects of stress and anesthesia from the effects of alcohol.